Arizona Women’s Basketball

Jan. 7, 2005

Arizona vs. California

Post-Game Quotes

Head Coach Joan Bonvicini: “We definitely scored a lot from the front line. It was just nice to get points from other players. It was a little closer than I wanted. I was just happy to see us knock down our free throws. This was a gut check game for us. It was a must win.”

“Polkey had limited minutes tonight. She did okay. She fouled a little more than we wanted. We’ll see how she recovers before we make a decision on Sunday. It’s a confidence boost when she comes in the game. She changes things. She is a big target down there.”

“Our defense was not good in the second half down the stretch. We were better in the first half. We let them get easy shots down the stretch. They are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, and we held them to 27 percent. That’s not bad.”

“Stanford is much different than they have been. They have three different key players from last year. They have players that can shoot the ball and be physical. Their style is different than previously.”

Senior Guard Dee-Dee Wheeler: “Our defense was horrible. We didn’t front the post. We let them get offensive put-backs. They had a lot of easy baskets. We just didn’t give the effort. They had too many open looks. We just didn’t play good defense.”

“Polkey is dominant. You can’t stop her. There aren’t many teams that have someone to stop her. Just knowing that she was playing tonight gave us confidence.”

“I definitely saw better post play tonight. They stepped up as a whole.”

“We know that the ASU game wasn’t us. We definitely looked like a high school team and didn’t play Arizona basketball. We wanted to come in tonight and prove to ourselves and our fans that we are still competing for a Pac-10 championship.”

“There can’t be two champions this year. Stanford is a really good team. They play great ball. We have to play solid and dominate every aspect. We need to play Arizona ball. We have to defend our home-court winning streak. It comes down to Stanford and us in the Pac-10.”

Senior Guard Katrina Lindner: “We just talked about how we need enthusiasm. We wanted to come out and be aggressive on offense. Then our defense would come. We didn’t have the hustle and desire before. We got that back tonight and it helped.”

“We want to protect our house and keep our home record going. We have to have that extra desire to protect our home court. We need to take that attitude on the road as well.”

“Stanford will definitely be a tough game. We need to bring our top game. We have to come out ready to play our game and play Arizona basketball. They are a smart team, and they are very well coached.”

Sophomore Forward Shannon Hobson: “We came out to play and have fun. It made a big difference to not think of it as work. I think we came out with more confidence. The rest of the team came out focusing on having fun with no pressure. The game tape from ASU really shocked us. It looks like we were working and not having fun.”

“Polkey and Jessica (Arnold) are big shoes to fill. The pressure is there for all of us, but we also realize that we have to play our own game. We’ve been focusing on the things that we are lacking ?- focus on our specific areas of need. It’s just about being strong and more confident.”

“It felt good to have Polkey back on the floor. I felt the energy in our team. It will be good to have her back fully.”